Design of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System for Intelligent Vehicle Wheels

Abstract

Due to the current mandates for TPMS in vehicles around the world especially in US since 2007 and EU 2022 regulations; challenges of battery disposal on the environment have emerged more sharply. In response, the study provides the novel solution known as Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters (PEH), which can potentially generate energy from a tire’s mechanical deformation. Two different designs of PEH to power Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) in automobiles as a sustainable option for battery-powered devices. One PEH is designed to be mounted on the inner surface of the tire Aluminium substrate is used as a structural support, and PZT-5H is used as a piezoelectric material. This design collects energy from tire pressure and road contact directly thereby providing stable and higher energy yield. Results indicate that output voltage increases as the car’s speed increases, reaching peak output at 90 km/h. The power output also increases gradually with speed, demonstrating that in addition to power TPMS, excess power can be stored. Second design consists of a cantilever beam substrate with a PZT-5H disk attached at the other end of the beam. The PEH is mounted perpendicular to the rim spoke to harvest energy during the tire revolution as a result of centripetal force. However, though this design is practical or can produce power the comparison proves that the in tire placement of the harvester produces more power as compared to rimspoke mounted one. The higher deformations within the tire make for a more efficient way of tapping the energy which coupled with the advantage of efficiency given by this tire mounted design go to prove the superiority of the design in terms of energy generation and efficiency. Through presenting two sustainable designs and proving the effectiveness of the inner-tiremounted PEH, this research indicates how the environmental impact of TPMS could be decreased along with the energy demand of the system.